Dear John,How long do you think this game can go on?

See update (below)

Meet James Yeager. According to a news report, he’s the star of an upcoming episode of Doomsday Preppers, which is now one of the most profitable shows on the National Geographic Channel:

This is the campaign run by the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, which is trying to persuade National Geographic to cancel the Doomsday Preppers episode featuring “violent insurrectionist” James Yeager:

This is David Lyle, CEO of the National Geographic Channel:

David Lyle

This is Rupert Murdoch:

This is John Fahey, Chairman of the Board of the National Geographic Society:

Update, 20 September 2013 @ 10pm

UPDATE: On September 19, 2013, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence was sent the following statement by Chris Albert, a Senior Vice President for Communications and Talent Relations with National Geographic Channels:

“Doomsday Preppers documents many individuals from across the country with unique beliefs and practices as they prepare (legally) to protect themselves and their families from various disaster scenarios. Given recent events such as Hurricane Sandy and the flooding in Colorado, this program is also a valuable platform for presenting survival tips to our viewers, and we regret that any potential interview has clouded the important work this show does. With more than 600 hours in production at any given time, we give our producers the liberty to conduct hundreds of interviews for programming on our behalf, including for this series. [James Yeager] was approached by our production company for participation in the upcoming season of Doomsday Preppers. However, after being made aware of the interview and consulting with the producers, National Geographic Channel does not believe that he fits with the show or the network, and we do not plan to air his interview in the series.”

Sunday, March 24, 2013 @ 9:09pmHoward Owens, President of the National Geographic Channel,says he isn’t ready to commit to producing
a TV special based on Killing Jesus,
the latest book by Bill O’Reilly of Fox News.

Executive Producer Lisa Blake has a long history of making shows with “gravitas.” Here are some highlights from her website:

… As the entertainment news producer for FOX’s national morning news show, Good Day Live, and the Emmy winning Good Day LA, she produced and directed live and live-to-tape segments exploring Hollywood Behind the Scenes and covering weekly red carpet events and feature film premieres. During her three years at FOX News Lisa worked with such luminaries as Brad Pitt, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jim Carrey, Halle Berry, Jack Nicholson and Robin Williams, among countless others. …

Lisa was the supervising producer on FOX’s Reality Remix, and a producer on reality shows Mr. Personality for FOX, ABC’s Are You Hot? and E!’s Style Star. …

And why do Lisa Blake’s promises to Alaska’s Old Believers ring a little hollow? Hmmm… maybe because she seems to be reading from the same playbook as did Jeff Collins, who produced Meet The Hutterites:

November 12, 2012:

January 17, 2013:

Dear John:

That quote echoes very familiar themes: sustainable development… scarcity… environmental risk… economy for the future. Say those words aloud, and you’re practically reading from the National Geographic playbook, with its noble goal “to inspire people to care about the planet.”

But here’s why a laser focus on all things Green — especially climate change — is becoming a life-threatening problem, at least for poor people who live in the global south:

If you read only one article
about climate change and the environment this year
(and there are only a few days left) read this one.
It’s an eye-opener. You can find the whole piece here.

We have some great ideas about how National Geographic could become a partner in Yu Jie’s project, which will not only help Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, but will also help you build a secure and sustainable future for the National Geographic Society.

If you’re interested in learning more, please get in touch, or let us know in the comments below.

The whole “Your questions” site, which is also the basis for a TV ad campaign, is fascinating — because the questions presented are exactly the potentially embarrassing ones that PR executives, just a few years ago, would never have dreamed of addressing publicly. “Which parts of the cow do you use?” “Why is your oil brown?” “Is there ‘meat glue’ in any of your products?” “Are the milkshakes really made of edible plastic?” “I heard that McDonald’s loses money on salads and has them on the menu to be politically correct. Thoughts?”

Not to mention this one-word query: “Halal?”

My favourite one: “Why does my food never look like the food in your ads?” It’s a question every single person who has ever eaten a Big Mac has thought — but which, to my knowledge, has never been addressed by head office. Yet not only does McDonald’s answer the question candidly, the company even links to a video starring McDonald’s Canada’s Director of Marketing, who takes us backstage to a “food stylist” preparing a Quarter Pounder for photography. We even see the post-production photo-editing in which blemishes and such are removed digitally.

The McMessage here is simple: We have nothing to hide. Ask us anything you want. We’ll tell you the answer. It’s a tone-perfect campaign for an age in which transparency is king, and ordinary consumers are demanding more and more information from politicians, corporations, charities, journalists… and, yes, burger joints.

_____

Meanwhile, at our Society:

John Fahey, Chairman & CEO of National Geographic,
rarely, if ever, gives interviews.
But if McDonald’s can answer uncomfortable questions,
then John can, too.
~
You can encourage John to speak up
by clicking Like, below.
~333 more peoplelike Dear John: Let’s Talk but we can’t include their names.
(They’re either not on Facebook, or they’ve asked to remain anonymous.)
If you’re in the same boat, please email mealan [at] societymatters [dot] org
and I’ll increase the total tally by one.

To: John Fahey, Chairman & CEO of National GeographicRe: The Joke That Isn’t

During your presentation at last week’s all-hands staff meeting at NGS headquarters, you decided to go for a big laugh this way:

Now, meet three members of the Romani community (“gypsy” is an epithet) — Daniele Morgan, Aaron Williams, and Tony Hutson — who are stepping forward to tell you why “factual fiction” like National Geographic’s American Gypsies is not funny. Instead, it’s been a nightmare:

_____

John Fahey rarely, if ever, gives interviews.
But we’re requesting one — partly to ask him this question:What, if anything, would you like to say to Daniele, Aaron & Tony?
~
You can help us get an answer to this question
by clicking Like, below.
~333 more peoplelike Dear John: Let’s Talk but we can’t include their names.
(They’re either not on Facebook, or they’ve asked to remain anonymous.)
If you’re in the same boat, please email mealan [at] societymatters [dot] org
and I’ll increase the total tally by one.

Would you join us? If so, please give this interview request a 'thumbs up':

338 more people like Dear John: Let's Talk but we can't include their names. (They're either not on Facebook, or they've asked to remain anonymous.) If you're in the same boat, please let me know here and I'll increase our tally by one. Thanks.

About

Hi. I'm Alan Mairson. I'm a freelance journalist based in Bethesda, Maryland; a former staff writer & editor for National Geographic magazine; and a member & lifelong fan of the National Geographic Society. For details about this project, please check out our inaugural post. For more about my advisers & me, see this. To feel the tight financial grip that Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation exerts on the National Geographic Society, peek at these tax returns. And if you'd like to share ideas, questions, or suggestions — or if you just want to heckle :-) — please contact me here. Thanks for stopping by.